INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN ELLIGET

His name is STEPHEN ELLIGET

Were you aware of the GoK project before you were invited to join and what is your opinion of the collaboration?

Sure! it would be a nice distraction from my Uni homework.
I knew about the project beforehand through Simon, I had seen some of his work for it on RedBubble and also he had spoken to me about it at family gatherings.
I think the collaboration is fantastic, and although I haven’t been that active in the forums, I have been keeping up with the WIPs. Its very cool seeing so many artists have their take on this shared concept. I havent had much time since my original posts to get much further in my pieces, but I hopefully will get some time soon. Uni is a bit in the way at the moment.
READ MORE HERE............

INTERVIEW WITH STURSTEIN

INTERVIEW WITH STURSTEIN
A prelude to the Game of Kings Project Phase Two

Before the release of the second phase of artwok featuring the best of Red Bubble illustrators, the Game of Kings administration hope to introduce you to the newer members and find out a little of what makes them tick. Along the way maybe sneak preview some work in progress and highlight other projects the artists are involved in.

His name is Peter Fairfax but he draws under the pseudonym of STURSTEIN

Were you aware of the GoK project before you were invited to join and what is your opinion of the collaboration?

Yeah, I was aware of it for a while before I was invited. I’m really jealous of everyone who was involved in those early stages. I think the project is a great idea. It’s neat to see where different people have taking the simple concept of chess.

Tell us a bit about yourself
Influences, ambitions, hopes and dreams.

I’m a comic book geek, so most of my influences come from that arena, most notably Mike Mignola, John Buscema, and Dave Stewart. Plus Frank Frazetta and Jeff Jones, but more for their painting than their sequential art. There are a bunch of European comic book illustrators I love, but the European stuff in general is a big influence; they really make a fine art of it.

Outside of comic books, there’s Alphonse Mucha, Robert McGinnis, Harley Brown, George Bridgman, Gil Elvgren… I could go on forever.

In terms of literature I’m a big fan of early pulp fiction, particularly sword & sorcery. Authors like Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Fritz Leiber, and H.P.Lovecraft. Lately I’ve been really excited about a new series called Monster Blood Tattoo, by D.M.Cornish. And I’ve recently been delving into pulp detective novels.

Ultimately I hope to make a decent living off my illustration, preferably in the world of comic books. That’s been my main goal for years now.

Is there anyone or anything you want to flog?

Absolutely! Right now I’m flogging my webcomic: valentinesdei

INTERVIEW WITH SHANAMATION

INTERVIEW WITH SHANAMATION
A prelude to the Game of Kings Project Phase Two

Before the release of the second phase of artwok featuring the best of Red Bubble illustrators, the Game of Kings administration hope to introduce you to the newer members and find out a little of what makes them tick. Along the way maybe sneak preview some work in progress and highlight other projects the artists are involved in.

SHANAMTION or as his parents like to address his mail to: Damien Shanahan, is a fine artist with a humorous bent. Damien who has years of experience as a graphic designer brings another dimension to the artwork that will be the Game of Kings.
He is only person I have heard of besides Lee Falk who has had a 100,00 of his comics distributed in show bags.
Mighty effort.
Let’s see what he has to say:

Where you aware of the GoK project before you were invited to join and what is your opinion of the collaboration?

I became aware of GoK, when I first saw my good friend Simon’s first pieces on his facebook feed. As life presents itself with interesting serendipitous moments, Simon and I got back in much closer contact than we had in years. Funny thing is our careers had taken very similar paths, both doing graphic design jobs and doing our illustration work after hours. It’s amazing to see how people’s art can move and develop over the years, but the one thing that’s never changed has been the passion for it.
Simon mentioned GoK Phase 2 was in the works and I loved his designs from Phase 1 so much I put my hand up to get in on the action. I was chuffed when he told me it was all go for Phase 2 and that I was a part of the team.

Continue reading here....

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BMBaus interview with great animation

INTERVIEW WITH BMBaus
A prelude to the Game of Kings Project Phase Two

Before the release of the second phase of artwok featuring the best of Red Bubble illustrators, the Game of Kings administration hope to introduce you to the newer members and find out a little of what makes them tick. Along the way maybe sneak preview some work in progress and highlight other projects the artists are involved in.
I don’t know him and he may be only 5foot 2 inches high but his attitude and talent are monstrous, may I introduce BMBaus…......

BMBaus
Where you aware of the GoK project before you were invited to join and what is your opinion of the collaboration?

Yes. I’ve been watching Simon Sherry for some time now both on Redbubble and at PulpFaction.
And in the shower.
My opinion is one of happiness,
I love big monsters and spiky armour etc and I love chess, and here they are together! Yippee!

continue reading here.....

Mr BMBaus is responsible for this mighty animation

Phase Two Introduction Interview : Simon Sherry

INTERVIEW WITH SIMON SHERRY
A prelude to the Game of Kings Project Phase Two

Before the release of the second phase of artwok featuring the best of Red Bubble illustrators, the Game of Kings administration hope to introduce you to the newer members and find out a little of what makes them tick. Along the way maybe sneak preview some work in progress and highlight other projects the artists are involved in. To start proceeding we’ll have a chat with the guy who kicked the whole idea off…. Mr Simon Sherry
cheers
Danny

Simon, with the success of Game of Kings Phase One how excited are you about Phase Two?

I’m very, VERY excited, to be honest. The first phase of the project was a lot of fun in terms of building the characters, creatures and the setting, but now we’re getting to the actual battle itself, an there’s some scope to come up with some crazy stuff. Having a whole new group of artists bringing their own distinctive styles to the project just adds to the overall level of excitement I’ve got for the project, and I think that anyone who enjoyed the first phase is going to really love what we’ve got planned.

Read the rest of the interview here

The Assembly

Always displaying a great sense of awareness, he observed the sights and odours around him. The odours he could do without, his keen sense of smell being assaulted by the collective stench of those around him, not the least being the Seam City heavy metal and grease. This and the irregular sulphurous farts from the Rock Titan made the air quite uncomfortable to those with sensitive noses.
The Equilord couldn’t remember the last time he had seen the entire forces of the army of the White Wing assembled in one spot, it was normally only gathered like this on very special occasions – the army so strong that only sections were ever needed to take on other combatants.
The Equilord often wondered why the King needed such weapons, why bring back the dead and awaken old giants?
Why did the University have to make these massive, belching steam engines and those bastardized anomalies of nature, the berserkers and hounds.
In the past the Equilord and his clan had been enough to take whatever the King wanted.
He had heard tales, rumours really that the King’s massive stockpiling had really only begun after the Bishop Angel arrived in the Kingdom. The Equilord had only been in his presence a few times and each time he felt as if the Angel was a powder keg waiting to explode at any minute such was the air of tension and intensity that surrounded him.
The Equilord feared and respected the Angel far more than his King.
Many things were happening in the field now as an air of impatience not becoming military personnel became apparent.
The Equilord watched with a grin as the Skeleton General slyly tripped one of his more severe and upright sergeants causing him to fall and scatter, setting the University hounds into a frenzy, running off with various parts of his body.
Occasionally the big Steam Cities would relieve the pressure from their bellows with a loud, ear splitting cry causing the berserkers to leap about like startled monkeys.
In the centre of these happenings the King and his Queen stayed inside their respective campaign tents and the Angel just stared patiently into the horizon as if waiting for someone or something.
They were – according to King – going to meet a formidable foe and the price of victory was unimaginable, defeat not an option.
The Equilord as well as the other generals weren’t quite sure whether the Kingdom was being invaded, border patrols would surely have long since sighted such a large army, or whether they had been gathered for a march to some neighbouring Kingdom that had been invaded. Either option seemed highly unlikely given the King’s stranglehold over the whole dimension.
It was all these factors that led to the uncertainty in the ranks.
The Equilord wished he were a million miles away in a green forest with his kin, far away from the mad king and his strange army. Little did he know how soon his wish would become reality?
The entire White army had assembled outside of the Kingdom perimeter in a large field adjacent to where the Rock Titan and his people resided.
The army stretched out across the green open spaces with the massive Steam City taking up the other flank.
The Equilord was concerned.

GoK Animations Part 14

GoK animation Part 13

GoK animations Part 12

More visual feasts.
The Steam City and Blasters - White Queen's Rook and pawn.
Visuals by sjem

Game of Kings new web presence

The new Game of Kings web site

Bear with us, it's a bit patchy but we'll get there.

Phase Two THE END GAME

Meet the new breed

With the Game of Kings Phase Two heating and roaring to go we would like to introduce the talent crew who have joined the project to take the next step and onward to another level.

Shanamation StursteinGeorgia Patton

BMBaus Nick FordStephen Elliget

Mathew Dunn Rustyoldtown ausven

Paul McClintockDamien Mason

Sadly due to outside commitments Jordan Clarke and sjem cannot contribute any longer.

back soon

The Game of Kings will be returning soon with more surprises including additional "special guest" artists to continue the story of two desperate Kings and their mighty armies.
The battle begins mid 2010

RETURNING VERY SOON

COMING BACK FOR 2010 BETTER THAN EVER

MEANWHILE HAVE A GAME ON US.

Gok Animation Part 11

RETURNING SOON

Gok Animation Part 10

Ravenblood Promo

Gok Animation Part 9

The White Queen's Rook
The Steam City

Gok Animation Part 8

The Basilisk
The Black Queen's Rook

Gok Animation Part 7

The Muck Golem
The Black King Bishop's Pawn

The teaser book of the SETTING OF THE BOARD

A CHRISTMAS TREAT FOR THE FANS OF GAME OF KINGS




FREE WALL PAPER HERE

MERRY CHRISTAMS FROM ALL AT GoK

GoK Animation Part 6

Black Queen Knight's Pawn
The Little Ladies

GoK Animation Part 5

The White King's Rook The Titan

GoK Animations Part 4

The Shaman Part 2

GoK Animations Part 3

The Shaman Black Queen's Bishop

GoK Animations Part 2

The Black King and paws

GoK animations Part One

The Bullrok
Black King's Rook

Behind the scenes part two- Works in progress

This sideshow is a sample of some of the works that the artists from the Game of Kings collaboration have slaved over to realise their final submissions.
It's a fascinating look at the mind at work and gives an indication of how hard these guys worked to give their best product possible.
This is only a sample as indicated above there is enough for a second and maybe
third if the interest is there.

This is a link to a vey earlier version of WIP's

Game of Kings Review Part 2

As we now have reached the penultimate release of the T Shirt wave of the Game of Kings (GoK) project I would like to reflect on some of its aspects since the idea was first floated some eight months ago.

This is a project of artistic and personal growth.
One man had an idea and was so excited at its possibilities he asked like minded artists to contribute. His own enthusiasm was enough to recruit his first choice wish list. That person of course was Simon Sherry.
The fact that this project has grown and evolved over these past months is testament to the other artists chosen.
This has been a project of testing ones comfort zones and abilities.
If I can draw attention to the artists themselves.
Incredibly popular members such as Scott Robinson, Roger (Ruby Red Design), Glen Smith (No Frills Art) and Jen Hacking (thickblackoutline) have all offered something outside of their usual styles.
It may not be evident at first but a closer look at Scott and Rogers work sees line work, half tone and colour experimentation unlike previous works. Jen has abandoned her usually whimsical style for harder and more aggressive character and experimented with effects like diamonds. Glen who usually works in themes and more topical issues has created a montage of images to reveal stunning characters that deserve their own tales.
Other popular members sjem and Jordan Clarke have shown us hidden skills and strengths and introduced totally new styles never exhibited here in their personal Red Bubble folios.
Sjem with his architecturally inspired CAD drawings of monster steam punk engines and Jordan with her hand drawn and masterfully coloured horse related creatures.
Continue reading here........

The White Army Announcement.

The White King summoned all his bishops, generals and auxiliary staff to congress, there were things that needed to be explained. Not all things however. No matter how absolute and despotic his reign may be, certain things could still cause rebellion and mutinous behavior given the conditions they would be bound to under the laws of the celestial battlefield.
Questions had been asked of course.
“Where is this campaign?”
“How shall we arm against this enemy, for we know nothing of them or their lands”
“Ummm….who are we fighting again?”

The White King had duped his subjects. His collective memory was greater than the Bishop Angel who had totally wiped all memories from its conscience regarding it’s crime and subsequent punishment. The Angel didn’t even have the ability to recognize the King as one of its own, something the King had been aware when he had found the fallen Angel all those centuries ago.

The King had watched the battles millennia before and knew that it had been the ruination of Kingdoms and worlds foolish enough to attempt it.
He also knew it may be a way home.

Game Of Kings Artist Interview: Sjem

Ever-elusive, the artist known as Sjem has been a valuable contributor to the Game of Kings project. Managing to pin him down and restrain him with the aid of a crack team of commandos, we recorded the following before he managed to overpower us and make good his escape…

Can we have a few words about your good self?
I spend most of the working week being an architect. Redbubble is where I come to share all other things that leak out of my brain. I also wish I had the ability to grow facial hair.

So that leads to the question how did you get involved with the project?
I think it was shortly after the London Calling Competition that I recieved a bmail from Master Sherry. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse, the scale of this collaboration is simply fantastic and the company I’m in is esteemed. It’s been a great experience in being able to give and receive feedback and comments from a pool of amazing talent. The place my work ended up is nowhere near where I would have predicted in the beginning.

How do you personally think it is going and do you think it has potential? What an incredible ride this has been, and I suspect that ‘setting the board’ is just the beginning. Everyone in the team has produced incredible work and the diversity of styles is a testament both to Simon’s skilled selection of collaborators and the talent of the collaborators themselves. I’d love to see other people drawn in – a book or comic, followed by figurines and then a movie deal with Peter Jackson, early retirement, and then a 10 year reunion where we try to create a sequel but instead act like a bunch of spoilt divas and spend the rest of our lives bitching about each other. That could be fun I reckon.

Do you want to flog some other projects you are involved in?
Not much in the project box at the moment to be honest. Sorry.

We’ll be sure to find something to keep him busy …